By Swami Sivananda
Pugal Cholar Nayanar was a king. He was living in Uraiyur in the Chola kingdom. He was greatly devoted to Lord Siva and Siva bhaktas. Pugal Cholar was an ideal king and people loved him and followed in his footsteps.
Once, Pugal Cholar went to Karur to collect tributes due to him from the kings of Kuda Nadu. All of them paid at once but the ministers reported that a petty king named Adigan had not. He ordered his troops to invade Adigan's fort.
In the meantime, the king's elephant was killed by Eripathar Nayanar for Siva Aparadham (as we have already seen in Eripathar Nayanar's life). Ultimately, both Eripathaar and Pugal Cholar had the Lord's Darshan.
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As this drama was being enacted, elsewhere, the Pugal Cholar's troops had demolished Adigan's fort, killing many of his men, and Adigan himself had run away. Pugal Cholar's troops returned with a lot of wealth and the heads of men killed. They placed all these at Pugal Cholar's feet.
Among the heads, Pugal Cholar noticed a head with the braid of hair on top — it belonged to a Siva bhakta. Stricken with terrible remorse, Pugal Cholar had a big fire made, went round it having the head on a golden plate in his hand, and entered the fire chanting the Panchakshara Mantra. Thus, Pugal Cholar entered the Lord's abode.
References:
Sekkilaar, and G. Vanmikanathan. Periya Puranam — A Tamil Classic On The Great Saiva Saints of South India. Ed. Dr. N. Mahalingam. Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 2000.
Sivananda, Swami. Sixty-Three Nayanar Saints. World Wide Web edition. India: Divine Life Society, 1999.
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